It’s an interesting move for the company, which has watched smartphone apps big and small chomp away at its business of providing standalone GPS devices. (Frankly, when Apple and Google park themselves on your driveway by offering free turn-by-turn navigation software, it’s time to make a move.)

“HUD redefines the navigation experience by allowing drivers to find their way without taking their eyes off the road,” Garmin’s vice president for sales, Dan Bartel, said in the press release. “Head-up displays currently have their place in select high-end cars, but HUD makes this technology available as an aftermarket accessory for any vehicle, at an affordable price.”

Garmin is offering a relatively affordable app that projects detailed turn-by-turn navigation right at eye level, along with spoken directions. That should be attractive to anyone who loathes looking away from the road to figure out where to turn next. Whether it is safer for drivers is an open question. (On the windshield does still mean in the line of sight.)

Still, it’s hard not to wonder why Apple and Google, which already offer beefy, constantly updated navigation software on millions of devices, won’t just turn around in a year and add a HUD projection to their apps. The accessory hardware needed — something to mount the phone on, for example — is a real gap, but it’s not insurmountable.

That said, it still seems like a good move for the company, which said in May that sales in the automotive segment continue to decline. Garmin’s website included a photo, embedded in this post. A few readers on other sites wanted to see the tech in action. In that spirit, here are a few YouTube videos from recent years that show various HUDs, including a BMW video talking up navigation.